What you need to know before traveling to Chihuahua

Chihuahua is a state in northern Mexico, and is the largest and richest of all of Mexico’s states. Its nickname is “El Estado Grande”, the Big State. Its geography ranges from prairie to forestland to mountains. Chihuahua’s Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon) is larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon in the United States. If you are a history lover and you’re staying in one of the budget hotels in Chihuahua, you might be interested to know that during the Mexican Revolution, this state was the battleground where federal forces met the rebels led by Pancho Villa.

The capital of Chihuahua is the city of Chihuahua. Here, in the Palacio Federal, you can see the dungeon in which Revolutionary hero Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was held by the Spanish for 98 days before he was executed. It certainly wasn’t as comfortable as your room in a discount hotel in Chihuahua. A bronze plaque on the cell wall commemorates this martyr to Mexican independence. The Museo de la Revolucion is actually in Pancho Villa’s house. On display are some of his clothes and guns, and the car in which he was assassinated in 1923. You can still see the bullet holes. Be sure to see the Palacio del Gobierno, a magnificent building that dates back to 1890. Murals here tell the story of the community. One shows Benito Juarez flanked by Abraham Lincoln and Simon Bolivar.